‘Portugal is key to hunt for Madeleine,‘ says the McCann family's former detective

KATE and Gerry McCann’s former ­private investigator has told a court the secret of what happened to their missing daughter Madeleine lies in Portugal.

By: James MurrayPublished: Sun, September 15, 2013

Retired detective Dave Edgar led the McCanns’ small team of investigators from 2008 until 2011 when Scotland Yard launched its review of the case.

Last week he spoke as a witness for the couple in their £1million libel action against former Portuguese police inspector Goncalo Amaral over his claims that Madeleine is dead.

Mr Edgar, 56, who spent 30 years with the Cheshire force and lives in Warrington, said: “My job was to lead the investigation to find Madeleine McCann and find out what happened to her.

“I discovered evidence and passed it to the British and Portuguese police. The answer to what happened to Madeleine lies in Portugal, so it is important to get information from the Portuguese public.”

Although the investigation was shelved by the Portuguese authorities in 2008 without the case being solved, Mr Edgar told the court at the Palace of Justice in Lisbon that he continued to work closely with Portuguese officers for several years after the case was closed.

Madeleine McCann's mother Kate with her mother outside a court in Lisbon, Portugal

The answer to what happened to Madeleine lies in Portugal, so it is important to get information from the Portuguese public

Dave Edgar

Soon after the authorities shelved the case, and lifted the arguido – or suspect – status from the McCanns, Mr Amaral published his controversial book, The Truth Of The Lie. He was moved off the investigation in October 2007 after criticising British police officers.

In the book he alleged Madeleine died in apartment 5a of the Ocean Club complex at the Algarve resort town of Praia da Luz on the evening of May 3, 2007.

He also alleged Kate and Gerry were suspected of hiding her corpse and ­covering up her death with a fake abduction. There were also indications of ­negligence in the way they treated their children, he claimed.

The couple, 45, of Rothley, Leicestershire, say the claims are deeply damaging to their search to find Madeleine and state there is no evidence to show she is dead. They are suing Mr Amaral for libel over claims made in the book and in a Portuguese TV documentary.

Earlier film-maker Emma Loach, 40, told the court the book was “a tidal wave of lies” that had devastated the family. She became friends with them after making two films about the case. “If people believed Madeleine was dead they wouldn’t look for her,” she said.

The hearing ended abruptly on Friday when the judge, Maria Emilia Melo Castro, said she had to deal with a personal matter. It meant Kate’s mother Susan Healey was unable to give evidence. She will return to court this week. The case continues.

____________________"WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER" - Rebekah Brooks to David Cameron

As the McCann lawyer Duarte stated earlier, they were far too busy defending themselves too look for Madeleine. Besides, it would require a lot of resources to search, even in Portugal alone. The team of detectives referred to had no such resources, not even website (even though there was a domain name) or a telephone line. Here is a copy of their company balance sheet

And here is the headquarters of that operation:

How were they supposed to search Portugal with just £853 and a white van?

____________________"WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER" - Rebekah Brooks to David Cameron

@sharonl wrote:Although the investigation was shelved by the Portuguese authorities in 2008 without the case being solved, Mr Edgar told the court at the Palace of Justice in Lisbon that he continued to work closely with Portuguese officers for several years after the case was closed.

So the story about NO police force doing anything is another LIE ?How very surprising !And how wonderful that Edgar has stuffed yet another McStory.

If their PIs firmly believed that little Maddie was still in Portugal why didn't her parents write the letter and put a first class stamp on it and ask for the case to be re-opened as Mr. A. suggested?

@sharonl wrote:Although the investigation was shelved by the Portuguese authorities in 2008 without the case being solved, Mr Edgar told the court at the Palace of Justice in Lisbon that he continued to work closely with Portuguese officers for several years after the case was closed.

So the story about NO police force doing anything is another LIE ?How very surprising !And how wonderful that Edgar has stuffed yet another McStory.

But surely the court would have asked two very obvious questions

1. What evidence do you have to back up your claim that Madeleine is in Portugal?2. Have any searches of the area been carried out by your team?

____________________"WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER" - Rebekah Brooks to David Cameron

‘Portugal is key to hunt for Madeleine,‘ says the McCann family's former detective

Post sharonl Today at 8:29 amNo News of the McCann v Amaral trial in the Sunday papers - are things not going in the right direction for the McCanns? It will be worse next week when the defence gives their evidence.

@sharonl wrote:Although the investigation was shelved by the Portuguese authorities in 2008 without the case being solved, Mr Edgar told the court at the Palace of Justice in Lisbon that he continued to work closely with Portuguese officers for several years after the case was closed.

So the story about NO police force doing anything is another LIE ?How very surprising !And how wonderful that Edgar has stuffed yet another McStory.

But surely the court would have asked two very obvious questions

1. What evidence do you have to back up your claim that Madeleine is in Portugal?2. Have any searches of the area been carried out by your team?

Precisely.

If the Portuguese police continued to work on the case after it was shelved, how can K & G say no one was looking? Who were the Portuguese police officers he continued to work with for several years? Were they part of the official investigation team, or were they 'unofficial'? Why was he working with them - was it because he was trying to ascertain if there was undisclosed information in the files that could be of interest to team McCann?

So Dave Edgar testified after all. I'm baffled by the reporting of the trial both here in the UK and in Portugal

There doesn't appear to be a single article giving a complete picture of how the case progressed. Instead, we are getting snippets from a variety of sources including the Justice Forum which has produced the most comprehensive account to date.

Is it the former PI or the journalist describing what happened to Maddie as a SECRET ? Dear me, there was criticism for calling her disappearance a mystery at one time.

Now we have either the PI himself or the writer using this word.

How very interesting !

it goes further than the word MYSTERY to describe what happened to Madeleine.se·cret (skrt)adj.1. Kept hidden from knowledge or view; concealed.2. Dependably discreet.3. Operating in a hidden or confidential manner: a secret agent.4. Not expressed; inward: their secret thoughts.5. Not frequented; secluded: wandered about the secret byways of Paris.6. Known or shared only by the initiated: secret rites.7. Beyond ordinary understanding; mysterious.8. Containing information, the unauthorized disclosure of which poses a grave threat to national security.n.1. Something kept hidden from others or known only to oneself or to a few.2. Something that remains beyond understanding or explanation; a mystery.3. A method or formula on which success is based: The secret of this dish is in the sauce.4. Secret A variable prayer said after the Offertory and before the Preface in the Mass.

____________________

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.~John F. Kennedy

@plebgate wrote:I still think there is a possibility that no reporting could be because of any future trial in UK. Will be interesting to see if we get any MSM reporting this week.

But the K McCann wanted it to be out in the open after GA said he wanted it to be a "closed court". Maybe the UK journalists have had enough of the McCanns manipulation and BS as both K & G McCann's names were at the top of the list of the recent letter regarding the "Hacking Enquiry". Have the UK press at last turned on the McCanns; I bl**dy well hope so, it's about time their lies, duplicity, self serving media manipulation and ego boosting "fraudelent" fund was all brought to a stop.

@plebgate wrote:I still think there is a possibility that no reporting could be because of any future trial in UK. Will be interesting to see if we get any MSM reporting this week.

But the K McCann wanted it to be out in the open after GA said he wanted it to be a "closed court". Maybe the UK journalists have had enough of the McCanns manipulation and BS as both K & G McCann's names were at the top of the list of the recent letter regarding the "Hacking Enquiry". Have the UK press at last turned on the McCanns; I bl**dy well hope so, it's about time their lies, duplicity, self serving media manipulation and ego boosting "fraudelent" fund was all brought to a stop.

@plebgate wrote:I still think there is a possibility that no reporting could be because of any future trial in UK. Will be interesting to see if we get any MSM reporting this week.

But the K McCann wanted it to be out in the open after GA said he wanted it to be a "closed court". Maybe the UK journalists have had enough of the McCanns manipulation and BS as both K & G McCann's names were at the top of the list of the recent letter regarding the "Hacking Enquiry". Have the UK press at last turned on the McCanns; I bl**dy well hope so, it's about time their lies, duplicity, self serving media manipulation and ego boosting "fraudelent" fund was all brought to a stop.

@jeanmonroe wrote:Dave 'Grabbit' Edgar of the PI 'big boyz' firm Grabbit'n'Leggit:"The answer to what happened to Madeleine lies in Portugal, so it is important to get information from the Portuguese public.”___________________________________________________________________Shouldn't that be?"The answer to what happened to Madeleine lies in the UK with the people that WERE in Portugal with her.So it is important to get information from THEM"

No he missed out a word."The answer to what happened to Madeleine IS lies in Portugal, . . ."

I'm sorry but I beg to disagree.

The correct, and accurate, sentence is "The answer to what happened to Madeleine lies in Portugal".Of course, he forgot to add that she also lied at the Leveson Enquiry and lied on tv sofas worldwide but refuses to stand up in court and lie.